Originally released on Trevor Jackson's Output Recordings, Fridge's early releases playfully skated all over the map, jumping from bashing lofi punk to sublime expanses of downtempo dance with equal enthusiasm. Always produced by the band at home (and often mixed directly to cassette), these early records drew much deserved fanfare.

With Output Recordings now defunct, and Fridge having spawned no less than three successful side-projects (most notably Four Tet, Adem and Kieran Hebden's collaborations with jazz legend Steve Reid), Early Output 1996-1998 is a band-curated collection of the most memorable tracks from those wildly prolific early years, including six previously unreleased tracks from that era. Remastered from the original master tapes, the package also includes photos and extensive liner notes from the friends, collaborators, and the band themselves.